Review of The Iceman (2012) by Jesse O — 04 Sep 2013

Michael Shannon is tremendous in this movie, as he typically is, but I don't think the script really gets too deeply into the mind of Richard Kuklinski as is humanly possible. Hell, I think the movie makes Kuklinski too good.

Almost as if they didn't study who this man really was. Yes, he loved his family and he found a way to keep his job as far away from his family as long as he could. But he was still a contracted killer.

If you've seen any of Kuklinski's interviews on HBO that he did years ago, you could see that this man was a sociopath. This man felt absolutely no remorse for what he did and I don't think the movie really showcases that, and I think that's by choice and not because of ignorance.

Kuklinskin's case is widely known, so I can't imagine that these people didn't know how much of a cold and heartless man he really was. Of course, they chose a perfect actor for this role, who has very intense eyes that show no emotion or remorse for his actions.

So I don't have a problem with Shannon, I think he does a great job with a script that simply does not match his talents. The problem with the script is that it feels like a collection of skits around Richard's life, rather than an actual movie that tells a story.

There's no real feeling that you're watching a movie, just a series of skits edited together to look like one. And the movie also reads like every gangster movie from the 70s onward. To be fair, the rest of the cast is solid, unimpressive except for Shannon, but solid.

I just don't think the movie found the necessary depth to make the movie more than just random scenes that aren't held together by a common thread. There's no real story here, just looking at this man's life does not constitute a story.

I may be the only one, but that's just me. It just feels like there's no point to any of this. Still, I think Michael Shannon is so good that he makes this movie, at the very least, a solid rental.